The Civilian?

Joshua J. said:
The problem with the Civilian is the tip is extremely thin. As a last ditch effort SD knife it only needs to work once. As an EDC it would need a thicker tip.
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My newer VG-10 Civilian has a noticably thicker tip than the ATS-55 Civilian that I traded off last summer. However I would heed Spyderco's advice that it is truly a self defense knife and not a utility knife. Now if you're going to get the Superhawk you won't have many jobs that blade can't do. It is a horse of a Hawkbill Blade. I don't own one yet but I have handled them and they are built like a skyscraper. The Superhawk has truly taken Spyderco's Hawkbills to a completely newer and tougher level.

I would personally trust the smaller Spyderco Matriarch for all around use before I would the Civilian. I was lucky enough to snag a VG-10 MATRIARCH and that blade steel is great for utility use. But do keep in mind if you would happen to snap a blade on a Matriarch model your chances of getting a replacement blade are almost zero.
 
Civilian's only real effective use is for Last Ditch SD.. It has no place as a Utility EDC... If you want a working knife, buy a working knife... Civi is designed to be mean looking and very effective if used to slash flesh... But everyday cutting tasks you need another knife.... And even in SD tasks you can find knives that are much faster to deploy.... May suggest the Fully Serrated Delica Wave or even a P'kal...With practice and training, you can have your delica wave deployed and stuck in someone's neck before they even attempt to deploy and open their civi... Just a honest opinion from someone who trains with SD knives daily..
 
i've had a civvy or 3 and i like the design but imho they are handicapped by having little/no stabbing ability, sure they rock at slashing but ya never know when ya might need stabbing ability, and while they slash well i dont know that they slash any better than a dozen other folders i could name.

not to say i dont like them but imho they are a long country mile from being the top folder availablefor SD.
 
If I remember correctly Sal had mentioned at one point that they had been toying around with the idea of a more robust/compact Civilian with a removable wave (a la P'kal). Don't know if they ever went anywhere with it though.
 
I would love to see a Civilian type knife with a wave feature. I view the knife as a last ditch slash and get away knife, but it could also pull duty was one heck of a seat belt cutter.
 
I've had my Civilian for over a year now. Big folding knife! Not one you'd want to pull out in public with law enforcement around. Definitely not an everyday user either. The lockback design is nice but you can definitely see how they tried to keep the profile thin because there's only a liner on one side of the handle, the other side is just a thin slab of G-10. Glad I bought it, although it mostly sits at home in my collection. I'd pick something else unless your dead set on a pure self defense tool.
 
i have one i only carry it if i am going to be in a rough neighborhood. If the police in my area caught me with this they probably would question my reasons for carrying such a weapon. Other than that it is a fantastic knife.
 
"...If the police in my area caught me with this they probably would question my reasons for carrying such a weapon..."

interesting thought "bearmeister"!
and carrying it around in a rough neighbourhood makes you feel safer? but for a fateful run-in with the police?
now, if only the civillian wasn't that intimidating an EDC, then it wouldn't make for such an interesting conversation piece afterall.
definately not EDC material for a great majority of civillians on this planet.
but agreed, what a knife!
 
Joshua J. said:
The problem with the Civilian is the tip is extremely thin. As a last ditch effort SD knife it only needs to work once. As an EDC it would need a thicker tip.
Click to expand...

no its not thin, not as thin as you might think. I wouldn't use it for edc chores but thats only cuz I use my knifes once and then just get a new one. Personnaly I just keep my knifes razor sharp so they perform when I need them to.

You might want to look in to the crossbill as its nearly the same lenght and its also a hawkbill knife but to be honest; the civilian has a lot meaner profile, the scariest I have ever seen.
 
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